November 2005 | Guus Bosman.nl

American images: Clarendon neighbourhood

Wed, 11/30/2005 - 10:32pm

Clarendon neighbourhood. The neighbourhoods in Arlington County are identified by neat signs.

The area where we live is called Court House, and our supermarket a few blocks further down the road, in Clarendon.

On the picture is the sign next to the Starbucks closest to our apartment.

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Wild Safari 3D

Wed, 11/30/2005 - 7:40am

Wild Safari 3D. Sunday afternoon we finally saw Wild Safari 3D in the Imax theater in the Natural History Museum.

Wild Safari 3D is a semi-documentary about a tour through South Africa to spot the "Big Five", the five most spectacular animals in Africa. Over the course of the movie we see a herd of elephants refreshing at a pool, lions eating a prey, rhino's running away from the camera, and we get a close look at buffalos and two leopards.

The visuals of the movie are superb. Of course, the 3D aspect is very nice, but the combination of that with advanced satelite technology really makes for a breath-taking trip from outer space to the parks of South Africa. It's a bit like Google Earth, but with a much better picture resolution and in 3D and on a huge Imax screen. A technical titbit: each frame of the movie is 49 MB, and the total movie would be 5.6 TB if recorder digitally.

It was great movie to watch. The 3D glasses make you tired after a bit, so it was good that the movie wasn't very long, but it was very spectacular and worth seeing.

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To the Mall

Mon, 11/28/2005 - 9:25pm

Saturday we went to the National Mall.

We wanted to see a 3D movie in the Natural History Museum, Wild Safari but when we arrived all the tickets were sold out. It was extremely busy in the museum, a lot of out-of-towners visiting the musea. There was another movie we wanted to see instead, that was playing in the Air and Space museum, so we walked to there. We got tickets and spent some time in the museum.

They have acquired a great new addition since the last time I was there: SpaceShipOne. This was the first privately funded manned spaceship to fly into space -- a great achievement, and I liked it a lot to see it in real.

We went into the movie theater to see Magnificent Desolation, but unfortunately the lights went on again after the show had just started. One of the projects was broken, and the movie wouldn't be in 3D. We decided to wait for another opportunity to watch the movie in 3D, and went in line to get a refund. So, we were quite unlucky with the 3D movies, but it was a nice day out.

In the evening we went to Georgetown, where we had dinner in Pizzeria Paradiso -- the best pizza place in D.C. I know.

Trees

Sat, 11/26/2005 - 1:20pm

A fall morning in Arlington, VA. The trees are starting to loose their leaves, and in a few weeks they will be completely empty.

Some pictures from around our apartment.

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Be Cool

Fri, 11/25/2005 - 10:55am

Be Cool. Yesterday night we saw 'Be Cool', a funny action movie about the music industry. We watched after having enjoyed a delicious and extensive Thanksgiving dinner that made us all rather sleepy.

Be Cool was similar in style to Kill Bill, although with more emphasis on funny dialogues and slapstick comedy. Part of the Tarantino resemblance was caused by the actors of course: John Travolta and Uma Thurman both played main roles.

One of the most funny characters is Sin LaSalla (played by Cedric The Entertainer), a suburbian rapper-producer. Everytime he goes visiting someone he brings a large troupe of bodyguards and bad boys, and his big, bad mercedes is always accompanied by four big, bad hummers.

Be Cool is a sequel to a movie called 'Get Shorty' -- we should see that one too.

Thanksgiving 2005

Thu, 11/24/2005 - 9:01pm

Our first Thanksgiving turkey being prepared for dinner. Early in the morning I went to do some last-minute shopping for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was quite busy in the supermarket and it was good news for my fellow shoppers that there were still a lot of turkeys left.

We had breakfast the five of us and soon after breakfast we started preparing the turkey. We had never cooked a turkey before but with Irena's and Jonathan's help everything went smoothly. It's a 12 pound animal so it would take a couple of hours to roast.

In the afternoon we went for a walk to the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Netherlands Carrilon while the turkey was slowly getting ready.

After having a small bite for lunch we continued the dinner preparations. That was fun, and we made all the traditional dishes: mashed potatoes, preparing the stuffing and other sides. The stuffing is essentially pieces of bread with seasoning.

The turkey came out really well! We had a great dinner (I really like the cranberry sauce) and it was really cosy. We finished the dinner with a blueberry pie and chocolates... a Thanksgiving in the finest "stuff your face" tradition.

Back from Puerto Rico

Sat, 11/19/2005 - 1:27pm

A rainy Wednesday morning in Puerto Rico. The weather in Puerto Rico this week was warm and rainy. There was a tropical depression in the Caribean. In the plane on the way back home I heard people saying there were in Aruba and it was raining all week.

Thursday night we had a bite in the hotel, where they serve an excellent hamburger, and we spent a pleasant evening outside. In the morning I checked out of the hotel and brought my luggage to work.

Friday afternoon we finished UAT for one of our projects, and we succesfully closed it, a good feeling. I left the office around 4 pm and Kevin, a colleague, gave me a ride to the airport. It wasn't very busy in the airport, but the flight I took to BWI was completely full. I arrived home around 23:00 o'clock.

This week Novi was in Washington, for a business trip to the World Bank. She and Sasha met a few times and she came to our apartment. It's been quite a while since we last met.

Beach at night

Sat, 11/19/2005 - 12:17am

The beach in Puerto Rico at night. This Wednesday we went for dinner in a Western ranch restaurant on top of the El San Juan hotel. We were with eight colleagues; it was a fun dinner after a long day.

We had a drink in the Waterclub and I was back in my room around 11 pm. I decided to take some more night shots. They didn't come out as well as the one from Tuesday evening but it was nice to experiment with different settings and use my tripod.

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Long days

Tue, 11/15/2005 - 11:08pm

Holiday Inn, Puerto Rico, at night. The first two days in Puerto Rico have been very busy, and we're making long days. It's good to be here, we're getting a lot done and it's much nicer to be close to the customer.

Yesterday there was a cake for me in the office from the customer for my birthday. Tonight we got in the hotel very late, and I shot a picture: the first one with my new tripod.

Due to the one-hour time difference we're getting up at 6.00 o'clock Virginia time in the morning.

Flattering

Tue, 11/15/2005 - 6:07am

That's flattering...

A nice way to start the day.

Guus Bosman

software engineering director

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